PITTSFIELD, Mass. — State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier began her Tuesday rounding up all of the Hillary Clinton delegates from Massachusetts.

 

As a Massachusetts whip for the Clinton campaign at the Democratic National Convention, she was the one with the forms for them to cast their votes. The delayed flight of one delegate meant logistics had to be figured out to get that vote in. Other delegates were in different parts of Philadelphia. She worked to get the voting forms into each delegate's hand. 

 

"My role is to make sure all of my delegates did that so there was some corralling. We needed to have people in their seats," Farley-Bouvier said.

 

The votes were tallied and, at 3:30 p.m., she took attendance of the Bay State delegates inside the Wells Fargo Center. And then again at 4 p.m., when the convention was gaveled in.

 

"While the votes were already cast, you want everybody to be there," Farley-Bouvier said. 

 

State Democratic Party Chairman Thomas McGee took the microphone and read off Massachusetts' 68 votes for Clinton and 46 for Vermont's U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

 

That's when Farley-Bouvier snapped out of the hectic focus on her job. It was done, the votes were cast. She listened to the other states and it truly hit her: For the first time in history the Democratic Party was going to nominate a woman for president.

 

"It was when it finally started and Massachusetts was ready and casting the vote," she said of that moment it struck her. "We had to take a moment to absorb it and realize we are part of a historic moment."

 

State Rep. Paul Mark was one of those 46 delegates voting for Sanders — as he was pledged to do. He was elected by the Sanders campaign to cast such a vote in the roll call but he also knew that he was going to be on the losing end. It was clear who the nominee was going to be and the focus was one of uniting the two camps under the Clinton campaign. 

 

"It is a very special moment. For the first time in history we nominated a woman," Mark said. "It is a big deal."

 

The others states read the votes, except for Sander's home state of Vermont, which passed until all other votes were cast. It circled back and Sanders moved for the nomination of Clinton as the party's standard-bearer by acclamation. 

 

"It was really important for the Sanders campaign that every vote was cast," Farley-Bouvier said. 

 

With that, the former secretary of state became the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America.

 

And when the speaking portion rolled out after the vote, the two representatives found they shared one thing in common with that evening's emcee: Pittsfield. 

 

Pittsfield native and actress Elizabeth Banks took to the stage as the host for the majority of the evening. Farley-Bouvier's district is entirely in Pittsfield and Mark has a small portion of the city. 

 

"Elizabeth Banks played an extremely important role. She was at the podium six, seven, eight times," Farley-Bouvier said, adding that the actress gave a "shout out" to Pittsfield, which led to her social media network lighting up and a number of looks from others in the delegation.

 

As the speaking portion rolled out, Farley-Bouvier was particularly struck by an onstage gathering of women in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

 

"The stage was full and they all spoke about how important it is to elect women," she said.

 

The keynote speaker of the evening was former President Bill Clinton. His hourlong address focused on the election and the issues somewhat but what really took over the conversation following the address was his personal stories of his wife. Bill Clinton spoke about their early courtship, their marriage and raising their daughter, Chelsea. 

 

"It was a really nice personal touch he gave," Mark said. "I thought he made a heartfelt explanation of why she is a good candidate."

 

But beyond the public speaking programs being broadcast by news channels, a lot of professional connections are being made behind the scene.

 

With gatherings such as Wednesday's luncheon featuring state House Speaker Robert DeLeo or a late-night rally put on by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the two legislators say they are making strong connections and helping to build the Democratic Party.

 

Mark is attending a Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee meeting Wednesday evening at which he hopes to find out what the state's Democrats can do to help with the campaign in key states. He's talking to other party officials and planning campaign events in New Hampshire to rally support for Clinton because even though Mark was a Sanders supporter, he doesn't want Republican nominee Donald Trump in office.

 

"We all came into it knowing where we need to be at the end of the week," Mark said.